Google to add on-demand genAI data analyst to Workspace

Google’s new on-demand generative AI (genAI) analyst for spreadsheets stood out among a slew of new AI features for its Workplace productivity suite announced at this week’s Cloud Next event in Las Vegas.

The upcoming “help me analyze” feature in the Google Sheets application in Workspace  can take information from tables and provide instant data analysis and insights. It does so without users having to write a single formula, chart or pivot table, said Kristina Behr, vice president of product for Google Workspace. 

“It’s like having a data analyst beside you to help,” Behr said.

The genAI analyst is designed to reduce the manual chore of digging through unstructured data in spreadsheets. It can catch unidentified trends, suggests how to go forward on research, and can create charts, Google said.

The feature will be available later this year, though no specific date was named.

Google also announced Workspace Flows, which Behr described as “a way to automate work across Google Workspace apps.”

Users can, for example, automate a stream of jobs involved in document reviews, customer support requests, or product analysis. One such use case: Workspace Flows can approve branding copy by referring to a collection of marketing data. Or it can handle customer service requests by referring to support documents.

“A lot of the work we do today requires context and reasoning; it’s not a linear stream of straightforward tasks,” Behr said.

The automation needs to be tailored by users via the Gemini custom AI agent builder called Gems. “Simply describe what you need in plain language and Workflows will design and build sophisticated, logic-driven flows — no complex coding or configuration needed,” she said.

While gen AI agents exist in many forms, this tool is aimed at everyday users who want to spend their time more productively. “It’s not just for IT admins or tech experts. It’s for everybody,” Behr said.

The feature will initially be available as part of the Alpha program, which is mainly available to large customers who bought Gemini prior to the January price hikes.

Google also added a feature called “help me refine” to Google Docs; it’s a genAI tool that can help structure or improve a written document. The feature also generates audio overviews that could be in the form of a full audio readout or “podcast style summaries if you need the highlights in a human-sounding digestible way,” Behr said.

Google rival Microsoft already has a similar Copilot feature that can summarize or improve Word documents.

In January, Google hiked the prices of Google Workspace, which included Gemini access to all Google Workspace users. Those price hikes for Workspace are likely to help Microsoft, especially with smaller and mid-sized companies, even though Google includes Gemini AI now with Workspace, Irwin Lazar, principal analyst at Metrigy, said in a recent interview with Computerworld.

The cloud-based productivity suite now has more than 3 billion users and over 11 million paying customers, Behr said. “We’re seeing over 2 billion AI assists monthly to business users within Workspace and meaningful gains across organizations using AI,” she said.